EARL STRICKLAND Returns to TEAM USA

[jay helfert]

I am in the 5th pick!!! Nah, I am just playing lol. First off, thank you all who thought I should be playing in the cup and to all the put them in place by saying I haven’t competed in the last 5 years, haha. Pool, unfortunately, is a piece of my past. Although, I recently tried to make a comeback… I was quickly blown away with how awful these tournaments have become. I give props to all the players to travel the world for the love of this game.

My post about Earl was nothing more than to have fan interaction. We all know Earl is a legend but we also know he makes me look like an angel . LETS GO USA

You'll be back!

 

[KRJ]

Who is this "Mainplayer you speak of ?

 

[garczar]

Who is this "Mainplayer you speak of ?

DeChaine

 

[Fatboy]

I am not the best writer admittedly. I humbly could use all the help I can get.

My writing is more about content and food for thought comments. Than politically correct sentence structures .

So, I apologize in advance to writing purest amongst us.

Kd

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

The content of poorly written posts can be more meaningful than perfectly expressed air-ball posts.

I couldn’t write for years, I’ve improved. But the content of my posts haven’t improved with better writing. They might be easier to read. But I’m not much smarter now than 10 years ago.

Look at Arties posts on 1P dot org. Artie can’t write but he sure knows his stuff about 1P.

I’ve never judged anyones writing, Including my own. Content over quality all day everyday.

Pool smarts has zero to do with writing. I just went in a quest to improve my writing because it was a challenge. And for sure I’m playing the 5 ball weaker now in real life pool than 6-7 years ago.

Best
Fatboy

 

[Poolplaya9]

But let's keep pretending that Earl's selection was for any reason other than ratings.

Not sure why you chose my post to quote when making that comment since I've certainly never pretended he was there for any other reason, and actually alluded to the opposite in that very same post for that matter, but since we are here anyway there are some points it doesn't look like you are considering.

By far the biggest and most important goal for Matchroom is to get eyeballs watching this event. It is arguably the most important thing for the sport as well. And what American does that better than probably anybody else, and without question is in the top 5 for that? Earl. If ratings and eyeballs is a legitimate goal to have for this event (and without question it is), then a large part of merit in this case is who will get the eyeballs watching. Clearly Earl is there by merit, just maybe not for the type of merit some would have preferred but lets not pretend it isn't totally by merit.

But even on the skill side of things there is a reasonable argument to be made for his inclusion based on skill merit alone. If we consider that due to the margin for error that players within 5 fargo points of each other are essentially equal in ability, then out of the American players currently available for selection Earl is tied for third best based on skill. There is another reasonable argument to be made that for the four players currently tied for third best in America (of those available for selection) that the tie should be broken by who has the most experience and accomplishments on the big stage since they are all of equal ability, and this would be Earl by a mile.

Even without taking into consideration how close in points the available players 3-6 are, Earl is still the sixth best available player so it is not like he is way out of contention, he is 2 points away from fifth. And Rodney hasn't been competing in a while so there is a good argument to be made that he shouldn't even be considered, which now makes Earl in the top 5 out of the active available Americans. Part of me wants to have the same knee jerk reaction as everybody else and say "no way Earl should be there based on skill not even close", but when you look at the actual data, that is a pretty hard argument to make. Dude is currently top 5 in skill out of the active available American players.

Neither here nor there, but my guess is that Earl is there solely because Shane pushed for him to be part of the team. Not that it matters, but if I were the team captain, Earl wouldn't be one of my choices for the team all things considered. But neither would Shane for that matter, Shane is and always has been a detriment rather than a benefit to the team but that's a whole other topic. But I'm not captain, and in any case, even though I don't particularly like the Earl pick, there is clearly a reasonable argument to be made that he is there based on merit any way you cut it.

 

[Poolplaya9]

I couldn’t write for years, I’ve improved.

I just went in a quest to improve my writing because it was a challenge.

The amount of your improvement is shocking and reflects a lot of effort on your part and is an accomplishment to be very proud of.

Out of curiosity, if you care to share, to what do you attribute your improvement, and did you do it on your own or did you have someone else give some hints/advice etc? My guess would be that it was 10% about getting the "proper writing skills" knowledge, and 90% of the improvement is just putting in the effort to implement that knowledge (writing takes a bit of thought and work).

 

[Fatboy]

Out of curiosity, if you care to share, to what do you attribute your improvement, and did you do it on your own or did you have someone else give some hints/advice etc? My guess would be that it was 10% about getting the "proper writing skills" knowledge, and 90% of the improvement is just putting in the effort to implement that knowledge (writing takes a bit of thought and work).

Thank you!

It was 100% self taught. Most of my practice happened here on AZB.

I had never written anything in my life in school as science and numbers made sense to me. Reading short form articles/posts and pre-internet I read magazines(and yes I looked at the pics too ). But I never had the attention span for books. I still can’t read books.

I have always been well spoken but when I jointed AZB and tried to express myself on a topic I’m knowledgeable about “pool” I was struggling. It was amazing to me, how could I know so much about a topic, speak intelligently about it(opinions might vary) but struggle to write about it? It was frustrating and surprising.

All I could write was bullet points and run on sentences. My punctuation is probably still horrible. Spelling is hopeless. But why couldn’t I pick the write words to convey my thoughts? It was from lack of practice the first 40 years of my life.

I asked a friend about it he recommended a book

The Elements of Style​

I tried to read that with zero success. It was brute force and 1000’s of posts that got me to where I’m at.

Funny thing is I took a long time off AZB and when I came back much to my surprise my writing had improved way more than I thought. Something just clicked. That never happened to me playing pool. I ground that forever, played ok. But with writing something clicked. I don’t know when or why.

There was no lessons, books, was just organic. Persistence and desire were also a factor. I’m still working on it and will continue to hone my skills. I gave up on spelling.

Thanks again, I feel weird talking this much about myself-but I’m surprised too. Hard work usually pays off. Learning to write wasn’t luck in my case.

Best
Fatboy

 

[VVP]

Not sure why you chose my post to quote when making that comment since I've certainly never pretended he was there for any other reason, and actually alluded to the opposite in that very same post for that matter, but since we are here anyway there are some points it doesn't look like you are considering.

By far the biggest and most important goal for Matchroom is to get eyeballs watching this event. It is arguably the most important thing for the sport as well. And what American does that better than probably anybody else, and without question is in the top 5 for that? Earl. If ratings and eyeballs is a legitimate goal to have for this event (and without question it is), then a large part of merit in this case is who will get the eyeballs watching. Clearly Earl is there by merit, just maybe not for the type of merit some would have preferred but lets not pretend it isn't totally by merit.

But even on the skill side of things there is a reasonable argument to be made for his inclusion based on skill merit alone. If we consider that due to the margin for error that players within 5 fargo points of each other are essentially equal in ability, then out of the American players currently available for selection Earl is tied for third best based on skill. There is another reasonable argument to be made that for the four players currently tied for third best in America (of those available for selection) that the tie should be broken by who has the most experience and accomplishments on the big stage since they are all of equal ability, and this would be Earl by a mile.

Even without taking into consideration how close in points the available players 3-6 are, Earl is still the sixth best available player so it is not like he is way out of contention, he is 2 points away from fifth. And Rodney hasn't been competing in a while so there is a good argument to be made that he shouldn't even be considered, which now makes Earl in the top 5 out of the active available Americans. Part of me wants to have the same knee jerk reaction as everybody else and say "no way Earl should be there based on skill not even close", but when you look at the actual data, that is a pretty hard argument to make. Dude is currently top 5 in skill out of the active available American players.

Neither here nor there, but my guess is that Earl is there solely because Shane pushed for him to be part of the team. Not that it matters, but if I were the team captain, Earl wouldn't be one of my choices for the team all things considered. But neither would Shane for that matter, Shane is and always has been a detriment rather than a benefit to the team but that's a whole other topic. But I'm not captain, and in any case, even though I don't particularly like the Earl pick, there is clearly a reasonable argument to be made that he is there based on merit any way you cut it.

Totally agree with your points on Shane but debating that will bring a lot of fury on this site and might be better to leave it alone. Shane imo is a very good person and superb player but not a good leader.

I don't believe the FargoRate system is a good system to establish merit for a team. It might be a good system for handicapping players if that is needed. I believe they should choose let's say 10 top 9 ball tournaments that are played each year and let the contenders know that their top performance in 7 of those 10 tournaments will decide their place on the team. Under this system guys will grind their hearts out to be on the team and whoever works hard enough to do all 10 gets a chance to drop 3 thus improving their chances. Something like this is a more realistic measure than FargoRate I would think.

 

[Fatboy]

Totally agree with your points on Shane but debating that will bring a lot of fury on this site and might be better to leave it alone. Shane imo is a very good person and superb player but not a good leader.

I don't believe the FargoRate system is a good system to establish merit for a team. It might be a good system for handicapping players if that is needed. I believe they should choose let's say 10 top 9 ball tournaments that are played each year and let the contenders know that their top performance in 7 of those 10 tournaments will decide their place on the team. Under this system guys will grind their hearts out to be on the team and whoever works hard enough to do all 10 gets a chance to drop 3 thus improving their chances. Something like this is a more realistic measure than FargoRate I would think.

SVB is not a leader, he’s one hell of a “right hand man” maybe the best. This isn’t a knock it’s a observation of his personality. Same as I’m not a girl, I don’t eat eggs and I like to wake up when I want to. SVB is at his best alone or with a player who is a leader(doesn’t even have to play as good shane).

 

[easy-e]

The content of poorly written posts can be more meaningful than perfectly expressed air-ball posts.

I couldn’t write for years, I’ve improved. But the content of my posts haven’t improved with better writing. They might be easier to read. But I’m not much smarter now than 10 years ago.

Look at Arties posts on 1P dot org. Artie can’t write but he sure knows his stuff about 1P.

I’ve never judged anyones writing, Including my own. Content over quality all day everyday.

Pool smarts has zero to do with writing. I just went in a quest to improve my writing because it was a challenge. And for sure I’m playing the 5 ball weaker now in real life pool than 6-7 years ago.

Best
Fatboy

You’re correct. It is, however, easier for people understand your point when they don’t feel like you’re yelling at them. An exclamation point at the end of every sentence will quickly diminish the quality of the points a person is trying to make.

 

[VVP]

SVB is not a leader, he’s one hell of a “right hand man” maybe the best. This isn’t a knock it’s a observation of his personality. Same as I’m not a girl, I don’t eat eggs and I like to wake up when I want to. SVB is at his best alone or with a player who is a leader(doesn’t even have to play as good shane).

Agree. Shane took some heat from Europe during a podcast after the last Mosconi cup for preventing his teammates from playing ping pong during the tournament. Shane wanted them to focus only on pool practice which is not necessarily good.

Overpractice kills sometimes and I believe that what got Orcollo during the finals for the International Open. He looked like a tired person during the finals imo. The commentators said he was practicing 6 hours per day during the final days of the tournament. I am positive that a world class player will learn nothing by overpracticing before a tournament, better to let the brain rest so it will be ready for the real deal.

 

[Poolplaya9]

I don't believe the FargoRate system is a good system to establish merit for a team.

I don't think it should be the sole criteria, but one would be an absolute fool not to take their Fargo ratings into consideration along with a lot of other things such as looking at recent tournament performances as you suggested below, considering how they deal with pressure and perform on the big stage or in a team dynamic, how their personality type is going to positively or negatively affect the rest of the team, how likely they are to bring embarrassment to the country they are representing, how hungry and determined and serious they are, how many eyeballs they will help bring to the event, and probably about 20 or 30 other things.

On a side note, I'm not sure if Mike Page would want to do it or not, or if Matchroom or the team captains would be interested in the info for that matter or not (but they should be if smart), but Fargo could easily give a player rating for just the last month, or last two months, or six months, or any period of time you would like and this would essentially do what you are suggesting below, see just how well a player is playing in whatever X recent time frame, but perhaps do it even better than only looking at their finishes in the events and would certainly be good supplemental information in any case.

I believe they should choose let's say 10 top 9 ball tournaments that are played each year and let the contenders know that their top performance in 7 of those 10 tournaments will decide their place on the team. Under this system guys will grind their hearts out to be on the team and whoever works hard enough to do all 10 gets a chance to drop 3 thus improving their chances. Something like this is a more realistic measure than FargoRate I would think.

 

[VVP]

Does Fargo blend the results for different disciplines? If they do, how would you compare a Fargo rate for a guy that plays 100% one pocket vs another guy who plays 100% 9 ball? I agree that the look back period should be less than 2 years which I understand Fargo uses.

 

[easy-e]

Does Fargo blend the results for different disciplines? If they do, how would you compare a Fargo rate for a guy that plays 100% one pocket vs another guy who plays 100% 9 ball? I agree that the look back period should be less than 2 years which I understand Fargo uses.

8,9, and 10 ball is tracked.

 

[Poolplaya9]

Shane took some heat from Europe during a podcast after the last Mosconi cup for preventing his teammates from playing ping pong during the tournament. Shane wanted them to focus only on pool practice which is not necessarily good.

I can't say if that was going too far without knowing a lot more about all the circumstances involved, but what I can say is that in my opinion team USA's biggest problem (aside from being less skilled) has been that they don't take it serious enough and don't have the right mindset. For years much of team USA has been there to joke around and have fun and be on the world stage and party and enjoy the festivities. They can say otherwise but the focus has been on having fun instead of on winning where it should be and so Shane very well may have been doing the right thing there, what was best for the team and their chances, even if it wasn't a popular choice.

This is why team USA did so well under Johan in my opinion. Johan set a MUCH more serious tone and it was all about performing and winning and there wasn't time for playing around and fun and other nonsense as there was a mission to accomplish that required all the focus. The Europeans on the other hand, while able to have some fun and play around a bit etc, is just a whole other mindset than the Americans and more in line with how Johan was. Team Euro is always there to kill, destroy, annihilate, and win, and that's how they approach it and that is the total mindset they have, and it is the right and most successful way to approach it, but the US is more interested in joking around and making a fun time out of the whole experience instead of it being a mission to win that simply must be accomplished.

 

[pt109]

If they haven’t picked the fifth player yet, I hope it’s Oscar....a consummate professional.

 

[VVP]

8,9, and 10 ball is tracked.

So can you get your Fargo rating for just 9 ball alone, for example?

 

[Poolplaya9]

I agree that the look back period should be less than 2 years which I understand Fargo uses.

Actually, Fargo looks back 10 years, but they weight it to where the games that are most recent carry much more weight than older games, and the older they get the less weight they carry until they are ten years old at which point they are no longer considered at all.

If Mike wanted to do it though, and if the Mosconi Cup captains were interested in it, is he could fairly easily provide them with the player's performance ratings for only the past two months worth of games, or only the past six months, or past year, or whatever other recent period of time the captains felt made the most sense to look at for the team selection purposes. If I were team captain I would be contacting Mike and asking him if he would provide me the ratings for how the players that I was currently considering had performed for about the last four months or so, or for the last year if the games were heavily weighted by their recency.

 

[SomeDeadGuy]

Let’s face it. Becoming a professional pool player in the US is a losing proposition. It takes a ridiculous amount of talent and time to compete, must less become a world beater. The prize money can only support a player for a years or two while they are world beaters. After that, time to find a career that has a future. The Mosconni Cup provides a great payday for these guys and we should support whoever gets an invite. If Earl is only there to adds viewers and that helps keeping the Mosconni Cup going, good for Matchbook Sports. The more MBS type promoters we have, the more 1st class players the game can support.

ps. No one gave the 1980 US Hockey team a chance

 

[easy-e]

So can you get your Fargo rating for just 9 ball alone, for example?

Yes. I'm sure there are several people out there whose ratings are based solely on one discipline. If they only ever play the Tuesday night 9-ball tournament at Joe's bar, that's where all of their games will come from.